Quick Facts - Peter King: Throwing Stone at a Glass House

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TEHRAN, March 12 (ICANA) – Peter King is at it again. After playing the main fiddle for IRA's political and financial advocacy in the United States for his political purposes, he is now trying to act as the main demonizer of the Muslim community. But who is this character whose efforts to demonize a peaceful community is in fact exposing his questionable past to the American public.

Saturday, March 12, 2011 10:40:47 AM

Congressman Peter King, who has rationalized his past defense of IRA terrorism without a hint of self-awareness or irony, is now the self-appointed protector of America from future terrorist attacks by holding a congressional hearing on the "Extent of Radicalization in the American Muslim Community and that Community's Response." Guardian

King has in the past claimed there are "too many mosques" in America and that 85% of American mosques and its religious leaders are radicalized, a statement that has been thoroughly discredited. Guardian

Despite a recent study showing that 40% of all extremist plots in America were thwarted as a result of Muslim American help, King ignores this evidence and stubbornly asserts that there is a "lack of cooperation" by Muslims with law enforcement. The intent, scope and framing of King's hearing have been criticized by law enforcement officials, counter-terrorism professionals, civil rights organizations, interfaith leaders and political commentators as being misguided, ineffective and potentially dangerous. Guardian

The majority of terror plots in America since 9/11 have been committed by non-Muslims, especially rightwing extremists and white supremacists. Examples include the failed Martin Luther King parade bomber in Washington State; Jared Lee Loughner, the Arizona shooter who killed six people, including a judge, and Joseph Stack who flew his plane into an IRS building last year. Guardian

How did king make a political career for himself?

Since the late 1970s, Long Island congressman, Peter King, has been aligned with one of the most violent terrorist groups in recent European history, defying critics in his own Republican Party and elsewhere and yet managing to prosper. NY SUN

The politician once called the IRA "the legitimate voice of occupied Ireland." He was banned from the BBC by British censors for his pro-IRA views, and he refused to denounce the IRA when one of its mortar bombs killed nine Northern Irish police officers. But Mr. King is now one of America's most outspoken foes of terrorism. NY SUN

Six weeks after September 11, 2001, he told WABC radio that the military should use tactical nuclear weapons in Afghanistan if it was believed that Islamic terrorists would deploy chemical weapons on American soil. Last year, he inflamed American Muslim groups when he said that 85% of mosques in the U.S. had extremist leaders and that Muslims in the country were reluctant to help law enforcement. NY SUN

Despite his years of support for the IRA, Mr. King became a valued ally of the Bush administration on terrorism matters and currently sits on the House Committee on Homeland Security. NY SUN

It was in the late 1970s that Mr. King first got involved in the Irish issue, but it struck some as an unlikely choice. His family hailed from Limerick and Galway, but apart from a great-uncle who was in the IRA in the 1920s, the Sunnyside native had no roots in revolutionary politics. NY SUN

In 1980, Mr. D'Amato, then the senator-elect, fulfilled a campaign pledge and went to Belfast on a fact-finding trip, taking King with him. It was the start of Mr. King's long entanglement with the IRA, and he took to it with the zeal of a convert. NY SUN

By the mid-1980s, the authorities on both sides of the Atlantic were openly hostile to Mr. King. On one occasion, a judge threw him out of a Belfast courtroom during the murder trial of IRA men because, in the judge's view, "he was an obvious collaborator with the IRA." When he attended other trials, the police singled him out for thorough body searches. NY SUN

What are some of the controversial and unpopular comments and decisions that King has made?

King is the ranking Republican on the House Homeland Security Committee. And as an outspoken advocate of strong anti-terror measures, he has been unafraid to ruffle some feathers in his drive to protect the homeland. Politico

On February 26, 2009 as the ranking member on the House Homeland Security Committee King said, "Having just returned from leading a congressional delegation to the terrorist-detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, I am more convinced than ever that President Obama's executive order to close Gitmo by next Jan. 22 is wrong and misguided and, if fully implemented, will threaten American security at home and abroad." "If there's any scandal at Guantanamo, it is that the detainees are treated too well." "We are at war with Islamic terrorism. Gitmo is a major front in that war. Closing Guantanamo could well mean releasing deadly Islamic terrorists overseas or bringing them to American soil. It would be craven surrender to left-wing groups and uninformed, self-righteous world opinion. We must do all we can to convince President Obama to reverse his decision." NY Post

On November 28, 2010, King made his views known about the Wikileaks. The incoming chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee said WikiLeaks should be officially designated as a terrorist organization. CNET

"He basically wants to treat the Muslim-American community as a suspect community," says Salam Al-Marayati of the Muslim Public Affairs Council. During the current revolution in Egypt, King echoed conservative paranoia in the U.S. about the Muslim Brotherhood and called on the Obama White House to make sure it was excluded from power. Irish Times

On February 13, 2004, Rep. Peter T. King, R-N.Y., told radio talk host Sean Hannity in an interview, "No American Muslim leaders are cooperating in the war on terror. I would say, you could say that 80-85 percent of mosques in this country are controlled by Islamic fundamentalists. Those who are in control. The average Muslim, no, they are loyal, but they don't work, they don't come forward, they don't tell the police…." World Net Daily

Following the interview, DNC chairman Terry McAuliffe called on President Bush, to "condemn this latest example of hate-filled language." World Net Daily

McAuliffe continued, "In the past, President Bush has told Muslim Americans that his administration does not condone bigotry. Muslim Americans are teachers, lawyers, doctors, business owners who have made invaluable contributions to our country." World Net Daily